I am not really convinced with Scolia hirta. On the other side, I have no better idea (and I don't know eastern Scolia species so well). First, I thought that it is a Stizoides (Crabroniae), but when compared with my collection, color pattern also does not agree.

That always the problem with unusul specimens on photos. With a sample, it is a question of some seconds to find out genus and mayby also species.

It seems to me that in Hungary (at least in the Great Plain) S. hirta often have yellow color in areas where western or northern individuals don’t. I attach pics of two males and a female (I hope it is allowed by the rules of the Forum) with such coloration. Both (different) males have yellow spots at the inner and outer margin of the eye, on the shoulder, and a third abdominal band, just like the one on the above pictures. The head of the female has a yellow pattern on the frons.

Yes, perhaps is it the explanation. Such a regional change in color pattern is not uncommon in Aculeata, and regional/climate based color pattern as a whole is not truly understood in wasps and bees.

The last hirta males lookes "normally" for me, I have no doubt about their identity. But the first male is somewhat different. Apart form the color pattern, what is more different than your last yellow specimen, are wings all black, what is unusual in males. Also general shape etc. looks different. At the other hand, I can exclude Stizoides or other Crabroniae (I have both Stizoides species in my collection), and so only a Scolia remain. I thought to annother Scolia species, but - as I told first - my knowledge in SE-European Scolia species is low, and I don't know if any other species is possible in Hungary.

Anyway, an interesting problem, and maybe we will see more similar species this summer in the forum.

It contains good descriptions of both Scolia hirta and S. galbula. From these descriptions, it turns out that the suspicions of both Xespok and Christian were well founded, and I was wrong: the first set of pictures show a S. galbula male, and those that I attached later also depicts galbula. In short, the main differences between S. hirta and galbula males are essentially those that I quite naively described above : yellow color at the sinus and at the outer margin of the eye, yellow spot on the prothorax, and the presence of yellow stripe on T-4, all of which are missing in tipical hirta males. In contrast to hirta, females of galbula have yellow markings on the frons. Of course, the punctuation is also different, the most conspicuous (what is sometimes also discernible in photos) is that there is a clear row of punctures in the middle of the posterior half of the mesoscutum in the case of galbula females, whereas this region is devoid of punctures in the case of hirta females.

This one is more difficult to use, because all Mediterranean sp. are treated, but more easy to reach, and contains photographs of Scolia galbula.

This paper, by the way, prompted me to say that I have a feeling that the pictures n. 2935 and 2936 in the Gallery does not sow Scolia galbula from Crete, but Scolia erythrocephala rutila female instead. This ssp. is from Egypt, but Crete is home of quite a number of Egyptian sp. anyway!